Private, no accountPrivacy details: browsing privately, no account needed
You're browsing privately, no account needed. Your region stays in this session and your precise location is never stored.What we store
H.R. 539 · 112th CongressIn committee

Preserving Our Promise to Seniors Act

Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs. · March 15, 2011

Live record from Congress.gov, updated as the official record changes.
What this bill would do
Official summary · Congressional Research Service

Preserving Our Promise to Seniors Act - Directs the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the Department of Labor to prepare and publish for each calendar month a Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers (CPIEC) that indicates changes over time in consumption expenditures typical for individuals in the United States 62 years of age or older.

Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to tie the CPIEC to computation of cost-of-lving increases in OASDI benefits.

Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to disburse a cash payment of $250 (adjusted for inflation) for each non-COLA year to certain recipients of OASDI benefits, railroad retirement benefits, veterans disability compensation or pension benefits, or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits under SSA title XVI.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to prescribe special rules for the determination of wages and self-employment income above the contribution and benefit base after 2011.

Amends SSA title II to include surplus average indexed monthly earnings (AIME) in the determination of primary OASDI amounts.

Develops points of order in the House of Representatives and the Senate with respect to consideration of any legislation whose effect would be a program: (1) reducing OASDI benefits in connection with contributions to individual beneficiary accounts in the private sector; or (2) providing for investment of amounts in the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund in any investment vehicle other than interest-bearing U.S. obligations or U.S.-guaranteed obligations.

Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on February 8, 2011. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.

Status
Introduced
February 8, 2011
In committee
March 15, 2011
Passed a chamber
Cleared Congress
Enacted
Where this sits in the process
Common questions
Composed from the official record
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?

4 steps remain before this bill could become law.

The record's latest action, on March 15, 2011: Referred to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.

  1. Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
  2. Passage by the House
  3. Passage by the Senate
  4. The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?

Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.

In the 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.

This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.

Has anyone actually voted on it?

No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.

A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.

Who is behind it?

Theodore Deutch (D-FL) introduced it on February 8, 2011, and 44 members have since signed on as cosponsors.

They are 44 Democrats.

Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.

How long has it been in play?

It was introduced on February 8, 2011, 5693 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5658 days ago, on March 15, 2011.

Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.

Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.

Vote history

  1. House
    In committee, no floor vote yet
  2. Senate
    Awaits House passage
  3. President
    Awaits both chambers
No recorded votes yet
No roll call in this Congress cites this bill. Most bills die in committee without ever reaching a recorded floor vote.